2004 prospect story: Jan Danecek

By Robert Neuhauser

March 1st, 2002

The northeast of the Czech Republic is one of the most important hockey regions in the country.In cities like Havirov, Trinec and Ostrava (Vitkovice is a part of Ostrava) hockey blossomsand future gems begin often their career there. When looking at the Czech roster from theprevious Four Nations tournament of the Under-16 teams, eight players learn the tools of thehockey trade either in Trinec, Havirov or Vitkovice. One of them is Jan Danecek, the smallrocket from Trinec.

Jan was born on February, 15th, 1986, in Havirov. At that time only Vitkovice representedthe northeastern region in the Czechoslovakian First League and Havirov wasn’t a hockey madcity like it is now, when an Extraleague franchise is based there. But Jan Danecek had goodsigns of beginning a hockey career. His father, also Jan, is a respected youth coach and hewanted to give his best into the career of his son. The little Jan was familiar with the localrink in Havirov since the very beginning of his life. After just sitting with the relativesin arena and watching games he was very eager to start playing and be like the other kidson the ice. His dad supported him from the very first moment and so when the little Jan wasonly four years old, he already knew how to skate and could control the puck. The baby-facedkid with a tremendous portion of natural talent left the 1st grade coaches shake their headin surprise and he immediately entered the youngest of all Havirov teams, the 1st grade.His dad Jan became the head coach of the team, which could be a coin of two sides for Jan.The good side was his dad could give him all the tips and control his development very close.The bad one then that some people could look at Jan as a player who is on the team onlybecause of his father being the coach. But the huge portion of natural gift for sports thatJan had left those “never believing Thomases” with their mouths shut. After dominating overthe other kids in skating ability and overall skill, Jan Danecek was selected captain of theHavirov first grades. And that was a position he could maintain also in the following years,which were highly succesfull for Jan. The Havirov 1986 borns captain won a trophy on almostevery youth tournament he participated. Now it was up to his father to be hard on Jan and notlet the first successes influence Jan’s head. Because his son was highly talented, he washighly demanding on him. On the practices as well off the ice. Jan had to do lots of workoutsto bulk up and be stronger, but mostly practices to improve his puckhandling ability. Alsoduring summer Jan was shooting the pucks and his dedication to the game was impressive.

Since the beginning of his career Jan Danecek wears the number 10 on his jersey, like thebig scorers as Pavel Bure for example. But Danecek isn’t a pure sniper. His biggest assetsare his perfect passing skills and a terrific skating ability. Jan is a great skater, agile,effortless and with a fluid stride. He accelerates well and is capable of sharp turns. Janis also very stabile on his skates. His soft hands go along with his top-notch stickhandlingability. He handles the puck with superb poise and his uncanny ability to pass the puck throughholes unseen by others makes him a rare gem. Jan a great vision and hockey sense and he likesthe finesse style of play, when he can make fast smart passes with his linemates. Jan is alsosolid in the faceoff circle, even if he is still far from a faceoff specialist. On thedownside, Jan appears soft. He is just 5’9” by now and his 154 lbs. aren’t a frame to throwaround. Plus, Jan even doesn’t like the rough play and tight defenses. Another thing he isn’ta fan of is high traffic. Jan can be eliminated by physical play and doesn’t rule along theboards in no way. That’s a thing to work on for him in the following years.

Jan Danecek admires the style of play of Ottawa Senators sophomore Martin Havlat a lot and justlike Havlat, his steps from the parent team led to Trinec. Havlat packed his suitcase andheaded Trinec in the summer of 1998 from Brno, Jan Danecek from Havirov in time, when heshould enter the 8th grade team.Just like everynew Extraleague franchise, Trinec was aware of how is a bolstered pipeline of prospectsimportant for the future of the team and Jan Danecek was a lock for them as one of the kidswith most talent in the region. So Jan started to wear the white-red colors of Trinec. Alsoin Trinec he quickly became one of the “go-to-kids”. Jan was playing against kids older thanhim very often, because his tremendous skill was totally outstanding in his own cathegory.

So it came that already in the fall of 1999, when he was just 13, Jan entered the midgetExtraleague as a twice underage. He could compete well also against three years older opponentsand he maintained his spot on the team. In his first season in midget hockey, Danecek recorded10 points for 5 goals and 5 assists in 38 games. These numbers may seem sub-par, but for a13-year old they are very solid, because almost no twice underagers are able to play in themidget Extraleague for the whole season.

The prospect-stocked Trinec midget squad was running high in 2000-2001. The team was coached byfamous Czech junior coach Radomir Kuzilek and as an assistant coach served Jan Danecek’sfather. This time they wanted to grab the midget Extraleague championship title. Afterdominating the Group B of the midget Extraleague the Trinec team really made the finals, wherethey stood against Slavia Praha midgets. Unfortunately, they lost the final series 2-1.But for Jan Danecek is this still his biggest success in hockey till now. He was one of themain factors during the playoffs, finishing second behind Patrik Stejskal in Trinec midgetsplayoff scoring. During the playoff race, Jan Danecek notched 7 points for 4 goals and 3assists in 8 games, averaging nearly one point per game. During the whole season Jan’s numbersthen stopped on 28 points for 17 goals and 11 assists in 51 games. Everything looked wellfor Jan and he could look forward to the begin of his international career and possiblya stint already in the junior Extraleague. He was a lock to make the new Czech Under-16 teamafter a stellar performance at the selection tournaments. But all of this had to be postponeddue to injury. In summer Jan suffered a broken ankle, thus he had to sit out the firsttwo months of 2001-2002.

After his ankle was finally healed, Jan jumped into the action and the opposing goalieshad to fear. He was sent to Prerov of the Div I midget league for a conditioning stint,where he should get used to the midget game again after the injury. After scoring 7 points for 7 goalsin 5 games Jan showed he has nothing to prove in the Div I midget league and got promotedto Trinec.The whole Trinec team was outstanding during the regular season of 2001-2002.Their ‘total offense’ brought a lot of excitement to the auditors, but also some goalsagainst. Nevertheless, Jan showed a terrific performance in most of the games.With the Trinec midgets Danecek found till now the net 16 times and added 24 assists for 40points in 24 games. No wonder that he saw action also in the junior Extraleague, where heappeared for 6 games till today, scoring 1 goal and 1 assist.

The brightest moment of this season came in December. Jan Danecek was called up to the seniorteam to be ready for his debut in the senior Extraleague. His first game among the seniorsever consisted of only one shift, but that was enough to make Jan Danecek the youngest playerever to play in the Extraleague till now. And of course the only 1986 born player to dressup for the seniors.And the long awaited international debut for the Under-16 team also came in December. Jandressed up for the three-game series against the Under-16 team of Slovakia. Most importantin his previous career but was the Four Nations Tournament of the Under-16 team. Jan finishedscoreless for the third-placed Czechs, but this is to change coming the next tournaments.

Jan is active also during his free time. He likes to play tennis or go swimming, these arehis two favorite sports besides hockey. Of course, he has to rest to have strength for thegames and Jan does it often. Whether it is sleeping or just listening to some music andrelaxing, he likes to relax. School is another factor in Jan’s life, he visits the secondaryschool for business. He still isn’t decided about his next hockey steps. He is eligible forthe 2003 CHL Import Draft, but he can easily decide to stay home to prepare for the NHLEntry Draft in 2004, which will be a big thing for Jan. He has the offensive tools tobecome one of the most talked players. Watch out for him!